


Run This Town

by jess (jess_m)



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: BAMF Irene Adler, BAMF Sebastian Moran, Doctor John Watson, Established Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade, Established Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, F/M, Hurt Lestrade, Irene Adler Ships Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Lesbian Irene Adler, Major Original Character(s), Minor Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade, Minor Original Character(s), Minor Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Molly Hooper Appreciation, Moriarty Is A Dick, Moriarty is Alive, Moriarty's Web, Multi, Mycroft Being Mycroft, Mycroft IS the British Government, Mycroft's Meddling, Mycroft's Umbrella, Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Poor Molly, Sebastian Moran Being an Asshole, Sherlock Being Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes Has Feelings, Sherlock Is A Bit Not Good, Sherlock's Violin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 12:59:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15461910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jess_m/pseuds/jess
Summary: Every fairytale needs a good old fashioned villain and this tale has three. So, what exactly happens when you bring a consulting criminal, a hacker and trained combatant, and a military expert turned criminal all together and face them with Sherlock Holmes and all of England at their feet? Chaos.





	1. When Do We Start?

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Sherlock Holmes or any characters, dialogue, or plots originally found in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's works or the TV series. I own everything not originally found in either.
> 
> Faceclaims:  
> Emilia Sinclair: Natalie Dormer  
> Sebastian Moran: Michael Fassbender
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqjIDngQWjg

One person could take over the world, but three? Three could turn the cities of the world to dust and rule over the ashes, and that was exactly what he wanted when he collected her. He didn’t want some saintly little fool that would ask questions left and right. He wanted one that could help him take down Sherlock Holmes once and for all, and to do that he needed resources. He needed a team of people that he could trust to be clever enough to get the job done, but daft enough to allow themselves to be dropped at the turn of a hat and never figure out why.

And he knew just where to look.

He exited the car and glared up at the museum. If his sources were to be trusted, the famed mathematician and certified genius Emilia Sinclair lurked behind those very walls. 

According to her records, she came from impressive lineage. A father who worked at MI6 and a mother who worked at Bletchley. Her grandparents were even more impressive with ties to the crown itself, working as doctors for the royal family and scientists researching cures for anything from the common cold to cancer. They were as close to noble as one could get without actually having the blood run through their veins. 

That was until a car crash left Emilia alone and orphaned at sixteen. However, by then she had learned all she needed to know and had an IQ that could rival Einstein and fighting skills well enough to get her a first class seat in the ranks at MI6, but she held back. For some reason, she had chosen to keep out of government and rather she passed her time at the National Gallery, making her money her own way and living a life below the radar of anyone of interest.

As Jim Moriarty stared up at the museum, he knew one thing for certain, that sure as hell was going to change.

He found Emilia in a large white room littered with various paintings and sculptures, likely done by her as he didn’t recognize one of them.

“Y’know, for a mathematician, you take a strange interest in art,” Jim remarked as he watched her with a small frown.

Emilia let out a soft huff and tossed her paintbrush in a small container beside her painting. She used her free hand to release her wavy but dirty blonde hair from its pin and turned to glare at him, disdain already written across her face despite this having been the first time they met.

“Jim Moriarty,” Emilia hummed. “Why am I not surprised?”

“You knew I was coming,” Jim observed, not allowing a single hint of alarm to creep into his voice. Of course, she knew he was coming. The blasted media had been slapping his face across every outlet known to man and his rivalry with Sherlock Holmes was the talk of the century. Why shouldn’t she expect his arrival sooner or later?

“I’m not going to help,” Emilia sighed, turning her back on him and picking up her paintbrush to continue working. “I swore long ago that I wouldn’t get involved in that life and you’re not going to change that.”

“You said no to the government,” Jim reminded her with a small smirk. “You didn’t say no to me.”

“Well, than my apologies,” Emilia sighed, placing her paintbrush to the side and turning to face him once again. “No,” she snapped, her bright blue eyes cold as she glared at him. She wasn’t getting involved in his petty rivalry with some low maintenance detective. It was none of her business. 

“You know Sherlock will approach you if you don’t come with me,” Jim warned, his tone low and dangerous as he spoke.

“And I’ll tell him the same thing,” Emilia huffed. “Your schoolboy squabble is none of my business. You just want whatever genius you can pluck up into your grasp to think up new ways to destroy him.”

“It’s not a schoolboy squabble,” Jim said, narrowing his eyes at her. “It’s much more than that.”

“Oh, are you in love?” Emilia hummed, a small teasing smirk dancing across her lips as she smirked back at him. “My mistake,” she smiled. “Please,” she scoffed with a roll of her eyes. “Your feud with Sherlock is nothing more than a petty row, but instead of sticks and hands to fight with, you’ve got bullets and bombs. You’re nothing more than children playing a game that is far beyond the pair of you.”

“Is that so?” Jim smirked, already knowing what string he could pull that would work at the only weakness he knew she possessed. 

“Yep,” Emilia nodded with a soft sigh as she walked over to wet her brush. “And don’t try to claim to think otherwise, that little game with the suicide bombs proved it to me.”

“I was bored,” Jim moaned. “And Sherlock overstepped his bounds.”

“And the Chinese gang?” Emilia implored with a raised brow. “Don’t try to convince me your way of working is any better than Sherlock’s silling running about. You’re reckless just like he is and I don’t intend on playing the game with children,” she hummed, dipping her paintbrush in some green paint and moving back to her painting.

“I can guarantee you’ll think otherwise when I tell you what the plan is,” Jim assured her with a small smirk.

“Really?” Emilia scoffed, highly doubting that possibility. “And tell me what would I get out of your little plan?” She wondered. “In the end it gets you revenge on Sherlock, I get that, but what’s in it for me? I’ve got nothing against Sherlock Holmes and revenge on him would mean nothing to me.”

“It would mean revenge on Mycroft Holmes,” Jim said cooly, hardly blinking an eye.

Emilia’s jaw dropped and it seemed as though, in slow motion, her paintbrush sliced across the painting and clattered to the ground, but she hardly heard it as her heartbeat pounded in her ears.

“How-How do you know that?” Emilia breathed. “Those were sealed records, I only accessed them because I-.”

“Hacked into MI6,” Jim finished with a nod. “You don’t think I dug everywhere when recruiting you?” He smirked.

Emilia stared down at the ground with wide eyes as she processed the information she was being presented at lightning speed. Jim Moriarty knew everything about her. He knew who killed her parents. He knew why she was a teenage runaway that stayed out of the government. He knew how she was quite literally beat and starved into the sociopath before him that day.

She glanced up at him and narrowed her eyes. He seemed just like the man she had dismissed in the papers oh so long ago, but it seems there was something more that had yet to be discovered if he was willing to offer her revenge on the one man she hated most on Earth. 

She smiled softly. He was a game she more than looked forward to playing and winning. 

“It seems I have underestimated you, Jim Moriarty,” Emilia hummed.

“A common error,” Jim smiled. “So, what do you say?” He implored with a raised brow. “Are you in this or not.”

Emilia glanced down and took a deep breath as she stuffed her hands in her pockets. If she didn’t take this chance, she may never find another opportunity like it. She may not like Jim Moriarty, but if he was willing to offer her revenge then she would play his little game and she would be sure to win.

With a thin smile, she looked up and narrowed her eyes at him. “When do we start?”


	2. Getting To Know You

“Sebastian Moran,” Jim proclaimed as he and Emilia rolled up in the limousine to his home.

“What about him?” Emilia eyed him with a small frown.

Jim glanced to her as though he couldn’t tell if she was serious before laughing crudely. “Oh, you can’t be serious, my dear,” Jim hummed. “You can’t honestly tell me you believed that I would need only your help to take down Sherlock Holmes.”

“No,” Emilia scoffed. “I don’t share your arrogance, strangely enough, but what makes Moran so special?”

“He’s a military genius,” Jim sighed. “If I’m going to end all of this with Sherlock’s head, I’m going to need both of you.”

“Fine,” Emilia snapped as the car came to a stop. She was not at all pleased to be working with Jim Moriarty. If it was her choice, she would have kept out of the limelight altogether. Nothing good happens in the limelight and especially not when you’re friends with the world’s most wanted consulting criminal. Still, she wanted to get back at Mycroft for what he had done to her and if that meant working with someone like James Moriarty, then so be it. 

They left the car and Emilia gazed up at Jim’s house with wide eyes. “This is where you live?” She mumbled.

It was less of a house and more of a mansion that the car had brought them to. Now, she saw where all the money Jim made in his unconventional job had lead. A mansion in the middle of nowhere where the police couldn’t find him living in style.

“Of course,” Jim scoffed as though every person in the world had a house of that size. “Where do you live?”

“In a flat,” Emilia huffed as she slammed her door and walked around the car to get a closer look at the mansion. “Like ordinary people,” she sighed.

“Oh, aren’t ordinary people adorable?” Jim smiled. “Come on, Sinclair. If you’re going to stick around, it’s time for you to meet who you’re working with.”

“What, he’s already here?” Emilia frowned.

“Of course. Some people don’t need convincing to help me,” Jim hummed, staring pointedly at her. “But then again you’re not some people.”

“You’re right, so if you could pop off your little high horse and realize I’m only in this for me, we could get things done a lot faster,” Emilia smirked and Jim laughed.

“Oh, I think I’m going to like you,” he chuckled. 

“Good for you,” Emilia said. “I’m not going to say the same,” she informed him bluntly.

“And I wouldn’t expect any less,” Jim nodded. “Though I would warn you, Sebastian is a bit more sentimental than either of us.”

Emilia whirled around and narrowed her eyes at him. “You hired a bloke that still feels things like emotion to plot the murder of the world famous consulting detective?! Are you really that stupid?” 

“It’s not stupidity, dear, when I happen to know that he is the only man with enough weaponry and military intelligence to murder Sherlock Holmes without even batting an eye,” Jim hissed, marching up to her and glaring down in a way that made her nevers stand on edge. “He still feels weakness like love and sadness, but that can be fixed with time just as you learned early on I hear.”

Emilia flinched. She visibly flinched. That was why she kept to herself for so long. She despised anyone having power over her in her secrets. She had put every firewall in place possible to keep from anyone accessing the government records of her imprisonment. She counted on every possibility and everywhere people might try to access them, but the one thing that she didn’t count on in all her trials when she buried her past so deep beneath every government record she could find, was Jim Moriarty. 

He seemed to break every definition she tried to place on him and contradict every idea she had about men like him. 

If Jim Moriarty was a game, she was at the very start and already losing. That just wouldn’t do. 

“If you think for one minute you can question my intelligence and get away scot-free again, then you have sincerely doubted what you’re getting yourself into, love,” Jim warned with a vicious smirk. The smirk a killer wore just before he went in for the slaughter, but rather than kill her, he just pulled on his sunglasses and marched into the mansion as though he had wished her good day.

Emilia took a deep breath and clenched her jaw. She had spent her life surrounded by ordinary people, it was both terrifying and exciting to be around those that would pose an actual challenge once in her life. 

Where most would have that little voice in the back of their mind yelling at them to back out while they were still safe, Emilia had nothing. She had no conscious saying what she was doing was wrong. She had lost that long ago. Rather, she felt a strong tug towards the mansion, pushing her to follow Jim.

Whatever his world promised, she wanted to know more. She wanted to play his game and she wanted to win. 

She sighed softly and without further thought, marched inside and followed him into the sitting room.

There on the arm chair to their right, a man with short golden hair and bright blue eyes sat in a dark suit and smoked a cigar. Upon first glance, she would never assume he still bore the weakness she had beaten out of her like Jim said. He looked smooth, calm and completely devoid of worry as he put his cigar out on an ashtray to his side. It didn’t seem as though he was the man sitting in the home of MI6’s most wanted consulting criminal, but Emilia supposed if Jim knew him as well as he acted like he did, he will have grown used to it at this point.

“Sebastian,” Jim sighed, marching forward with a small smile as the man turned to face him with a raised brow. “This is the one I told you about,” he said, waving to Emilia. “Emilia Sinclair.”

Emilia smiled thinly and held out her hand to shake Sebastian’s. He sat up briefly to shake her hand and gave her a short nod in greeting.

“Hi,” Emilia smiled. 

“Brilliant mathematician, renowned hacker, and trained personally by her father in hand to hand combat,” Jim listed. “And that’s just what I read before she turned sixteen.”

“I’m aware,” Sebastian smirked, tracking Emilia with his steel blue eyes as she plopped down into the armchair across from him and packed up a pack of cigarettes. 

“She’s perfect for what we need and even if she wasn’t, she’s the only genius not plucked up by the government and the  _ Holmes brothers _ ,” Jim hissed as he wandered over to a piano in the far corner of the room and plucked up some files.

“Oh, so basically I’m only here because I’m convenient,” Emilia huffed out a breath of smoke.

“Now, you’re getting it,” Jim smirked. “This whole thing will go over a lot easier and faster if we share an equal distaste for each other,” he announced.

“Oh, trust me,” Emilia chuckled. “You won’t catch me feeling little schoolgirl crushes on either of you arses,” she scoffed, glancing between the two men and Sebastian snorted.

“Perfect,” Jim hummed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to meet with a couple Russian assassins about taking up residence near Baker Street,” he sighed. 

“Don’t let us stop you,” Emilia sighed, smiling softly at Sebastian. She would be more than happy to take the chance to learn more about the strange Army man before her.

Jim glanced between the pair of them with narrowed eyes before nodding and heading out.

“So, mathematician?” Sebastian implored with a raised brow.

“Of all the things you could choose to start a conversation over you choose math as your starting point,” Emilia snorted. 

“I was always rubbish at math,” Sebastian shrugged and Emilia laughed.

“I suppose I wasn’t any good at it either. That was until my Mum taught me the Trachtenberg method at six. Then suddenly I was the next kid genius,” she sighed.

“Trachtenberg?” Sebastian prompted with a small frown.

“Joseph Trachtenberg,” Emilia nodded. “He developed this method of rapid mental math while stuck in a Nazi concentration camp. My Mum learned it from her Dad and he learned it from his Dad and so on. It’s only gone out of date because of calculators but those who do know it are the next kid geniuses. Count that alongside a family of certified geniuses and you’ve got yourself a prodigy,” she said, smiling softly as she shrugged to herself. “I took up hacking after my Mum as well, after all Bletchley Park,” she hummed.

“And your Father?” Sebastian implored as he pulled out another cigar and lit it. 

“Trained me as much as possible,” Emilia nodded. “Granted, he wanted a boy that he could teach all the skills he had learned but he settled for teaching me.”

“Do you have training in weaponry?” Sebastian wondered. “Did he train you in anything more than hand to hand that wasn’t on record?”

“Why do you want to know?” Emilia frowned, suddenly suspicious of his motives.

“If we’re really going through with Jim’s plans, you’ll need skills in both weapons and hand to hand,” Sebastian informed her. 

“And I assume you plan on training me if I don’t?” Emilia guessed with a small smirk and Sebastian’s face fell. “I know how to work my way around a handgun, pistol and rifle and have some basic skill with knives though nothing to write home about. Trust me when I say my childhood was far from ordinary.”

“I believe you,” Sebastian chuckled. “Though I doubt any of us could say we had normal childhoods.”

“Fair point,” Emilia nodded. “Still, did you spend your fourteenth birthday learning how to load and shoot a P99 Pistol at targets your Dad had assembled in the lawn?”

“No, I spent my fifteenth birthday going through military training through my own house with my father shouting orders at every turn,” Sebastian counteracted with a smirk and Emilia’s eyes grew wide.

“Right then, it seems we have something in common,” Emilia hummed. 

“Army fathers who trained us like we would die in our own backyards?” Sebastian guessed with a small smile and Emilia nodded. “Oh, it’s not so bad,” he sighed. “After all, I don’t have a clue where I’d be without him, and Jim of course.”

“Yeah, about that,” Emilia said, putting out her cigarette in the ashtray and frowning as she leant forward. “Who the hell is Jim Moriarty and how do you met him?”

“What, he hasn’t told you?” Sebastian frowned. 

“I doubt he’s one for talking if I’m honest,” Emilia scoffed, glancing towards the doorway Jim had left not too long ago. She doubted he would be the kind of man to sit and talk about himself for hours. Like her, he was guarded and unready to trust at the drop of a hat. 

“Well, our meeting wasn’t the most conventional of introductions,” Sebastian hummed, a soft chuckle on his lips as he spoke.

Emilia narrowed her eyes at him. “He came into my job and asked me to help him murder his greatest rival and Britain’s top celebrity. I’d say nothing about this rings near conventionality.”

“True,” Sebastian chuckled, smirking over at her. “I met him after he had murdered someone in the school pool. Poisoned the poor boy’s shoes and made him drown.”

“Hold on, I read about that,” Emilia frowned as she leant back in the chair. “Carl Powers,” she breathed. “That was him?” She asked and Sebastian nodded.

“They called it a seizure or some sort of fit, but Jim kept the shoes,” Sebastian laughed. “It seemed mad until he used them not too long ago on Sherlock. It made for quite the entertaining scene.”

“But that was out of pure boredom,” Emilia huffed. “This is exactly why I was hesitant to join him because when he does things he doesn’t think them through,” she insisted. “He just decides he’s bored and figures out who to kill. If I’m going to be joining people like you, I want to be around people who think through their plans before executing them rather than stringing together some poorly constructed bomb I could have made at eleven.”

“If you think that’s all there is to Jim Moriarty then you have greatly underestimated what you’re dealing with,” Sebastian hummed. “Jim isn’t like the reckless criminals he recruits or pulls jobs for, he’s a class of criminal all on his own. He’s a spider at the centre of a web and he knows just what strings to pull to make his food dance and his enemies shiver. You can work for Jim Moriarty and never even see his face or realize when you’re next on his hit list.”

“Then why hasn’t he shown that?” Emilia wondered with a helpless shrug. “And why is he cowering from the public like a common criminal?”

“He doesn’t just slap together a plan at the drop of a hat like you think. He takes time planning and crafting a plan,” Sebastian explained. “And he hasn’t shown what he’s capable of because he’s not ready yet. There will come a time when England will topple before James Moriarty,” he promised.

“If he’s that good, then why does he need us?” Emilia wondered. “Surely, he can do this on his own,” she shrugged.

“He could kill Sherlock easily, yes,” Sebastian agreed with a nod. “But what’s the fun in making it easy?” He smirked. “He wants to construct a scenario so massive that not only will Sherlock Holmes be dead, but if he ever did manage to escape the spider’s web, there would be a world of distaste and disgust waiting for him. He could just kill Sherlock Holmes, or he could destroy everything about the Holmes name, shame him in the eyes of his most trusted followers and utterly destroy him.”

“‘Destroy the Holmes name’,” Emilia echoed in a breath. “That’s also why he called me in,” she realized. “He knows I’d have the motivation to demolish Mycroft Holmes and if both the Holmes brothers are disgraced there’s nothing left for them to turn to but death.”

“Exactly,” Sebastian hummed, a small smile creeping onto his lips. “And you’re just the missing puzzle piece we needed. You know how to hack onto Mycroft’s systems and go deep enough into the government that you could do anything, even breaking into the world’s most secure facilities and creating a whole new person and a life story behind them from scratch.”

“Is that what he wants to do?” Emilia implored with a raised brow. “Is that how he plans to go about this?”

“Those are amongst some of the plans he mentioned,” Sebastian nodded. “Along with needed people to break someone out of a heavily guarded prison, but that’s where the weapons training comes in,” he informed her and she nodded. “But even still, that’s a long way off now.”

“What do you mean?” Emilia frowned. 

“He has to raise the money to gather the excess forces needed to pull this off. Extra guns and bodies where we can’t be,” Sebastian said.

“And how does he raise the money?” Emilia asked. “I know he’s talking to some Russian assassins now.”

“He protects less than pleasing corporations and in return they pay him generously for his efforts,” Sebastian smirked.

“What do you mean by less than pleasing corporations?” Emilia wondered, frowning at Sebastian.

Sebastian winced and glanced around the room as though Jim was somehow listening to them even then. “I’m not sure he’d be willing to let you in on that information so soon.”

“I’m going to be working with him,” Emilia huffed. “How can I work with someone I don’t even know everything about? Especially if it’s breaking the law.”

“You’ll have to work that out on your own, but as much as I may like to, I don’t plan on spewing all of Jim’s secrets to you right off the bat,” Sebastian sighed. “No matter how long he’s known me, I wouldn’t doubt he’d be willing to kill me for betraying him without even batting an eye.”

“You’d be betraying him by explaining who he is to someone who’s working with him?” Emilia scoffed.

“I’d be betraying him by disobeying the rules,” Sebastian hummed, leaning forward and glaring at him. “He may be a puzzle, but working with him is a treacherous track and if you disobey or betray him in anyway he won’t hesitate to put a bullet in your skull.”

“Yes, well, I don’t intend on bending over this easily,” Emilia snapped, standing up and marching out of the room.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Sebastian called, jumping up and racing after her. 

“First, I’m going to find whatever room in this maze is supposed to be mine. Then, I’m going to find a computer and I’m going to find out just who I’m working with,” Emilia hissed. “And just you try and stop me.”

“I know something that will stop you,” Sebastian promised with a nod.

“Oh?” Emilia chuckled. “And what’s that?”

“If you try to hack into Jim’s records, I’ll have to be the one that kills you,” Sebastian warned and that did manage to stop Emilia in her tracks.

She spun around slowly and narrowed her eyes at him. “You really would murder me for my curiosity?” She frowned as she tiptoed closer to him.

“If that’s what it takes,” Sebastian shrugged.

“What?” Emilia chuckled. “Are you in love with him or something?”

“I’m in love with staying alive if that’s what you’re asking,” Sebastian sighed. 

“Then, work with me to hack into his systems and if I get caught, I’ll swear you had nothing to do with it,” Emilia assured him. “After all, it’s not like he’s got cameras following us about,” she chortled.

“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Sebastian hummed, not seeming convinced by Emilia’s motives and logic. “Can’t you just wait it out and find out from him later like a normal person?” He huffed.

“Oh, but normal’s boring,” Emilia grinned. “Why be normal when you can have a little fun risking your life hacking into the files of a world famous consulting criminal?”

Sebastian didn’t even offer her the courtesy of a response, rather, he just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms like a disappointed parent.

“Look, this is the first time in ages I’ve been around people like me and had a bit of fun,” Emilia sighed. “Even if it ends up getting me killed, I wanna find out who Jim Moriarty is and right now my life is at a crossroads and when this is all said and done I’ll probably wind up imprisoned or dead anyway, so why not have a bit of fun while I still can?” She smirked.

Sebastian watched her for a moment as though he were genuinely considering her proposition, before he let out a soft sigh of defeat and uncrossed his arms.

“Alright, but if this gets us murdered, I’m blaming it all on you,” Sebastian warned and Emilia beamed up at him. 

“I wouldn’t expect any less,” she sighed. “Now where’s the nearest computer,” she asked.

“Unmanned?” Sebastian prompted with a raised brow and Emilia nodded. “Down that corridor, third door on your left. They’re personal computers and the staff will all be in meetings for the next three hours so that’s plenty of time. I doubt you’ll have much trouble getting past a password,” he assumed.

“Psh, that’s easy,” Emilia scoffed, dismissing the very idea that she was incapable with a wave of her hand. “Mum taught me how to get past a password when I kept getting locked out of my computer at six.”

“Right, well, I’ll just hang out here,” Sebastian said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall.

“Oh, if I didn’t know you were an Army man before I met you it wouldn’t have been hard to guess now,” Emilia remarked with a soft chuckle as she observed Sebastian’s body mannerisms. He was very tightly guarded and stiff. He had perfect posture and screamed Army man just from the way he stood.

“What?” Sebastian frowned.

“You’ve really got to work on not crossing your arms so much,” Emilia giggled, pulling his arms away from his chest while he smiled softly. “Even an idiot can see you’re an Army man from a mile away,” she sighed. “And try slumping a little bit,” she instructed, tapping his back softly and sending a shiver up Sebastian’s spine. “Ordinary people slump and if you’re going to be seen outside amidst whatever he’s planning,” she said, jabbing her finger back in the general direction of where she had last seen Jim wander off, “you’re going to need to look like an ordinary person,” she advised.

“I thought you hated ordinary people,” Sebastian frowned. “I know for a fact Jim does,” he chuckled.

“I do,” Emilia nodded. “They can be sweet and all but they’re mind numbingly dull when they blather on about the relationships they been in an out of for the past month nonstop in your ear,” she moaned and Sebastian laughed. “Honestly, I know everyone can’t be as intelligent as we are but can they not find something more interesting to talk about?” She whined and Sebastian snorted.

“That’s exactly the reason I hung around Jim most of my life,” Sebastian nodded. “I know that they have potential but I just can’t stand to be in a conversation with someone who thinks talking about the weather and sports makes for a lively discussion.”

“Oh, I hate when they talk about sports,” Emilia groaned and Sebastian laughed once more.

“Why did you stay in that museum if you hated ordinary life so much?” Sebastian wondered.

“What?” Emilia frowned. “You didn’t read my records with Jim?”

“Nope,” Sebastian shook his head. “I enjoy working people out when I meet them,” he smiled. “Solving the puzzle if you like.”

“Well, that must mean some people are more complicated puzzles than others,” Emilia assumed, leaning and observing Sebastian, the wheels in her brain turning as she worked out all she could about him while she engaged him in idle chatter.

“If you like,” Sebastian nodded.

“What sort of a puzzle am I?” Emilia wondered with a small smirk while only deepened when she saw Sebastian’s eyes widen. 

He narrowed his eyes at her and smiled softly. “Complicated,” he breathed. “Very complicated.”

“Good,” Emilia nodded, pushing herself forward and marching down the corridor. She paused momentarily to toss a smile over her shoulder that make Sebastian choke on the smoke from his cigar. 

She chuckled softly and headed into the room he had directed her too and he paused only momentarily before smirked and following.

He headed into the room and Emilia was already sat at one of the computers typing furiously. “Lock the door,” she instructed without even looking up.

Sebastian frowned, but did as she instructed before heading up to her side and pulling up a chair. “Is this how you were arrested when you were younger? Hacking into government security?”

Emilia turned to him with a frown and daggers in her eyes, suddenly wary of his next moves. “How do you know that?” She asked. “You said you didn’t read my files. How do you know about when I was arrested as a kid?” She snapped, glaring at him and practically daring him to lie.

Sebastian’s eyes widened and he moved back a few inches, blindsided by the sudden venom with which she addressed him. “I just-He mentioned it when listing your skills to me before he picked you up. He said you were like him after an arrest when you were little.”

“Did he tell you how little?” Emilia implored with a raised brow.

“No,” Sebastian shook his head. “He only said you were a kid when you were taken into the highest level of security by the government.”

Emilia traced her eyes across him as though determining whether or not he was lying. When she decided he was being truthful, she sighed softly and turned her focus back to the computer. “Good,” she breathed.

“So, what was it?” Sebastian wondered. “What did you do?”

“That’s none of your concern,” Emilia muttered.

“You’re joking right?” Sebastian scoffed. “I’m standing by and watching as you hack into my friend’s personal records and you’re not allowing me some basic information about yourself?”

“Except it’s not basic,” Emilia snapped. “In those two months I was held prisoner, interrogated and beaten down to a pulp at the command of one man: Mycroft Holmes. It made me into the person I am today just like your father and Jim made you into who you are except I’m not friends with the man who did this to me,” she hissed. “It was because of what he did that I didn’t join the government and I kept out of criminal disputes. I wanted out of his gaze because I know Mycroft Holmes is the British government and I will not give him the opportunity to do it to me again.”

“Then why take the risk now?” Sebastian wondered. “Why put yourself on the front lines now?”

“Just one reason,” Emilia sighed. “Jim Moriarty has promised me revenge and while I may not know much about the consulting criminal, I do know one thing. If he’s willing to give me revenge, that means he’s willing to let me be the one to put a bullet in Mycroft Holmes’s skull and for that price I’ll work with anybody.”

At a sudden beeping from the computer, any potential future conversation came to a close and Emilia turned to the screen with a grin.

“In a world of locked rooms, the girl with a key is Queen,” she sighed. 

In bright green letters across her screen flashed the words, ‘Access Granted’.

“Excellent,” Emilia hummed and continued tapping through the computer to reveal a list of all the corporations Moriarty and his men were working with and it didn’t hold back. It gave all current and past corporations and how much they had granted to Moriarty as he grew in power as a consulting criminal. 

“Just what are you expecting to find?” Sebastian wondered, frowning at the screen as he watched her read through the companies and what they specialized in. 

“I’m not expecting to find anything,” Emilia retorted. “I’d just like to know who I’m working for and just how he got to have all of this,” she said, gesturing to the mansion around her. “I think I deserve that much if I’m putting my life and liberty at stake for this man’s vendetta, don’t you?”

“But you’re not,” Sebastian chuckled. “In the end, you’re both just looking after yourselves.”

“Aren’t we all?” Emilia hummed. “There’s rubbish like foreign gangs, illegal immigrants and animals, and human trading and I don't care,” she shrugged. “I just want to know what he’s done. It’s not like I’m gonna go racing up to him and yell at him for his sins against mankind. Well, so long as he hasn’t raped,” she muttered.

“That’s where you draw the line?” Sebastian implored with a raised brow.

“That’s where everyone should draw the line,” Emilia snorted. “You’re a different kind of sick if you do that,” she muttered. “But never mind that, what the hell is China Baby?!” She exclaimed with a frown.

“He protected some guys while they sold orphans to Chinese couples,” Sebastian shrugged.

“Jesus,” Emilia whistled. “He hasn’t done any of this stuff himself has he?”

“He doesn’t like getting his hands dirty and when the pair of us are involved it’s usually just us killing those who go out of line against his direct orders,” Sebastian explained.

“Ah,” Emilia hummed. “Too busy with his own hobbies, eh?”

“More like too busy with Sherlock,” Sebastian mumbled bitterly.

“Oh, do I detect a tone of jealousy, Sebastian?!” Emilia exclaimed with a giggle. “I’m sure he had no idea you cared,” she smiled.

“No, you idiot,” Sebastian snorted, slapping her on the arm. “Shove off.”

“Never,” Emilia smirked as she looked through the last bits of information on the corporations Jim provided support to. “Jim’s probably gonna be bringing my belongings in from my flat soon and once that happens, you’re stuck with me,” she said, pointing and laughing at Sebastian. 

“What an awful idea,” Sebastian smirked.

“I think right?” Emilia sighed. “Anyway, now that we’re done here,” she said, closing out everything she had done and wiping the memory from the server, “you can toddle along back to your little boyfriend,” she informed him with a smile as she stood up and Sebastian and he rolled his eyes and chuckled softly. “I have to find my room anyway, and maybe I can get comfortable in a mansion I’m staying in only to murder two people.”

“Good luck,” Sebastian chuckled. “And he’s not my boyfriend.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Emilia smiled. 

She headed out and Sebastian directed her to one of the servants that might be able to help her find her room while he wandered off to find Jim and figure out how the meeting with the Russian assassins had gone.

Emilia walked into her room and her jaw dropped. She thought the mansion was impressive, but her room was incredible. It was probably the size of her entire flat and Emilia couldn’t stop spinning around and gaping at it. 

With a sigh, she plopped down onto the bed and smirked. She was back in the game and she wasn’t going to let this end like last time. She was going to make sure she not only stayed out of prison, but got that bullet in Mycroft’s head like she had always dreamed.

When she was seventeen she had been arrested by him after her years of crime behind her. He spared no courtesy instructing his men to beat, brutalize, and interrogate her until she had nothing left to hope for but death.

She lost everything when he took her as his prisoner and only escaped the legalized torture because she’d gotten her hands on a gang lawyer that knew how to slip her sins under the rug in a court of law. Since then, she remained quiet and stuffed herself into a museum so nobody could suspect she would do anything dangerous again. After all, when looking for a dangerous criminal, you wouldn’t think to find her painting and sculpting at the National Gallery.

She never wanted to risk the kind of torture Mycroft Holmes had put her through again, but that wasn’t the only reason she despised him and wanted to put a bullet between his eyes.

Official record said her parents died in a car crash. A fluke. An accident. Like her torture, the real reason had been buried by her under miles of firewalls and records that people would have to dig through the uncover. She had thought no one would ever be so dedicated or capable of finding it out, but she quickly realized she had met her match and his name was Jim Moriarty.

Now, she was more than up for a challenge and Jim Moriarty was far more than that. He was going to be the most fun game she had ever played and she couldn’t wait to win, to pull out on top as she had done so many times before and prove herself once again capable of beating every game she met. 

Sebastian on the other hand was a game that, while fun, she had played many times before. He was still capable and willing to fall in love and she would use that against him, prove his weakness before his very eyes. Oh, she could flirt and laugh at his jokes all day long but over time she would be sure to adjust the game to his characteristics and in the end pull Jim Moriarty’s most trusted ally to her side.

Oh, these men were games all right, and she was more than ready to play.

~~~

The next morning Emilia woke up and headed to the kitchen, eventually finding it after a bit of wandering.

Jim was already there, sitting at the bar with a mug of coffee and narrowing his eyes at her as soon as she walked inside. She granted him a thin smile.

“Hello,” she greeted.

Jim simply nodded and bowed his head to sip his coffee before speaking. “Your stuff arrived.”

“Brilliant,” she smirked. She pulled out the pot of coffee and began pouring herself a mug.

“Are you planning to tell me what you wanted when you hacked into my systems last night?” Jim implored, hardly even looking up as he took another sip of coffee.

The pot of coffee slipped from Emilia’s fingers and slid into the sink, clattering as it landed against the metal. She looked over as he raised a brow at her and inhaled sharply when she looked down and found her hands shaking, she immediately hid them behind her back to avoid him spotting the weakness, but that didn’t stop her heart from pounding out an irregular beat in he ears.

“Don’t even bother denying it,” Jim sighed as though he were bored. “Don’t you think I took the extra precaution of monitoring my systems before bringing a hacker into my house?” He prompted with a raised brow.

“I, uh, I,” Emilia stammered.

“Oh, don’t stand there simpering like a pathetic child,” Jim snapped, rolling his eyes at her weakness. “If you won’t answer I’ll just question Sebastian.”

“You know he was with me?” Emilia frowned. “How can you possibly know that?”

“Besides, the fact that you just told me?” Jim scoffed. “I’m a wanted criminal, my dear, you think I employ people I can’t trust.”

“Shit,” Emilia hissed. 

“Oh, there’s no use in regretting it now,” Jim sighed. “Just tell me what you wanted?”

“And I guess you’ll kill me if I don’t tell you,” Emilia huffed.

“Kill you?” Jim winced. “Oh, now don’t be obvious,” he scoffed. “I’m not going to kill you, but if you don’t stop prying,” he hesitated before narrowing his eyes at her and clenching his jaw. “I’ll burn you,” he hissed. “I’ll burn the heart out of you,” he promised.

Emilia’s eyes widened only momentarily before she took a shaky breath and nodded. She knew what she was getting into. She couldn’t be afraid because a criminal had threatened her as criminals do.

“I only wanted to figure out who I was working with,” Emilia shrugged. “Sebastian said you have all these rules and make money from all these corporations, but he wouldn’t elaborate on any of it. I decided I should find out for myself.”

Jim narrowed his eyes at her before a small smirk crept onto his lips. “Very good,” he hummed.

Emilia allowed alarm to register across her face for a single moment. “What, you’re proud?!” She exclaimed.

“Extremely,” Jim nodded as he sipped his coffee. “If I had taken on a girl that wasn’t willing to do whatever it took to figure out what she needed, I’d be disappointed,” he sighed. “I brought you here to prove you’re worth my time and you’re well on your way to doing just that,” he approved. “But tell me, how did you get past the firewalls?” He wondered. “I put several new ones up around all my records before you arrived.”

“Oh, firewalls are easy,” Emilia scoffed. “My Mum taught me the one chink in their armour when I was younger and helped me practice.” She spared a glance at Jim and noticed him watching her with utter fascination. He seemed to be more or less in awe of her intelligence. “Would you like me to show you?” She implored.

“More than anything,” Jim smirked.


	3. The Plan

“How do you destroy a man who knows everything you’re about to say before it even crosses your mind?” Jim wondered as he laid out several files before Emilia and Sebastian. “How do you take down a man that has contacts with some of the most influential people? How do you murder a man that the whole of Britain looks to like the god of all detectives?”

“Take away everything that makes him great,” Emilia mumbled as she flipped through the files all containing images of Sherlock Holmes, his contacts, and information on all of them. 

“Exactly,” Jim sighed. “But how can you do that when he has contacts at the highest levels of government?”

Sebastian and Emilia shared a look and identical frowns before both turning to Jim and shrugging in confusion.

“You take down the government,” Jim smirked as he marched away from the table and headed to open the door.

“Erm, you realize that is far easier said than done, right?” Emilia prompted. “I mean we’d have to be able to topple over one of the strongest governments in the world without them finding us and stopping the rest of this plan.”

“Already taken care of, dear,” Jim smiled and swung open the door to reveal an attractive young woman with dark curled hair and a smirk dancing across her lips. “This is Irene Adler,” he introduced.

“Ah, the Dominatrix,” Sebastian hummed as he leant back in his chair.

“What, you know her?” Emilia frowned, glancing down at Sebastian as his cheeks pinkened.

“Oh, don’t worry yourself, dear, I only know what he likes,” Irene assured her. “I only swing their way when it’s convenient,” she shrugged, waving between the two men in the room and Emilia snorted with Sebastian grew a deep shade of red.

“Well, that’s all well and good, but what can you do for us?” Emilia implored, leaning across the table towards Irene while Jim smirked at her.

“I have some very compromising photos of the Duchess that the government has been wanting back for quite sometime,” Irene hummed, waving her phone as though the black screen she showed them was proof. “And I have just heard, Mycroft is calling his brother in on the case to try and stop me,” she smiled. 

“So, what?” Emilia shrugged. “You’re not going to let up the photos,” she observed. She saw how tightly Irene clung to that phone and she knew what compromising photos meant for a woman mingling with criminals. It was insurance. She couldn’t very well release what was keeping her alive to the British government.

“Oh, you’ve got a clever one here, Jim,” Irene remarked. “And a looker at that too,” she sighed, eyeing Emilia up and down with a grin.

“And a girl who’s still in the room, so cut to the chase because quite frankly, I’m growing bored,” she sighed and Jim chuckled softly at her.

“So, I’m planning to get close to Sherlock,” Irene smirked. “Use him to my advantage and when the time is right, play the damsel in distress. He can’t resist a scared little victim. I’ll pretend I’ve fallen prey to some nasty men who want to hurt me for the secrets I keep stowed away in this pretty little thing,” she said, waving her phone before them. “By then, you should have some information about what Mycroft’s planning to do next with the British government and once I get Sherlock to work it out, he’ll be ruined,” she smirked.

“And what’s in this for you?” Emilia prompted with a raised brow and Sebastian smirked at her.

“After this, Mycroft will have to ensure my protection by the government’s hands. He will have no choice once he realize we’ve got access to his every little secret,” Irene hummed.

“That’s all you want?” Emilia asked. “Protection?”

“Love, protection goes a long in this world,” Irene smirked.

“Fair enough,” Emilia shrugged and nodded.

“What do you need from us?” Sebastian asked.

“Some American assassins at my home tomorrow, some fake dead bodies that look like me, and some assassins in,” she hesitated as she thought on the location for a moment. “Let’s say Iran, I hear the weather’s nice there this time of year,” she listed as Sebastian jotted all of this down.

“And how long will all this take?” Sebastian asked.

“Five months, tops,” Irene promised. 

“And by the end of this the government will be destroyed,” Emilia smirked. “Mycroft will be a wreck and they’ll be wary of making any strong moves with us watching them.”

“We get to knock the Iceman out of the game and take the Virgin down a peg,” Jim nodded as he walked up to Irene’s side. “There’s no way we can lose.”

“Oh, I like those nicknames,” Irene remarked with a chuckle. 

“But this is only the first phase?” Emilia guessed. “We start with the government and move onward from there,” she assumed.

“Yes, but we need more money for anything else,” Sebastian sighed as he looked down at his files. “Which means-.”

“We need to take on another contract,” Jim nodded and smirked.

~~~

Emilia walked down the corridor, occasionally jotting notes here and there through her files as she studied what she needed to get done in order to follow through Jim’s plan. 

Just as she passed a door left open a slight crack, she heard the pop, pop, pop, of gunfire and paused in her steps.

As she heard the shots once again, she furrowed her brows and began to creep inside. Sebastian was in a meeting with the American assassins they were pulling on for Irene so it couldn't be him and most of the mercenaries Jim hired seemed to practice outside from what she saw.

The door creaked open, but it was hardly heard over the loud shots being fired. She peered around the door with a small frown, but her eyes brightened as she saw the man holding the gun. 

“Picturing Sherlock’s face?” Emilia guessed as Jim reloaded.

Jim glanced back and smirked at the sight of her only to shake his head. “That would be far too simple,” he sighed. “If I wanted to put a bullet in his head I could have done it ages ago,” he informed her. 

Emilia placed her files down on a small table beside the door and picked up a pair of headphones so the shots wouldn’t blast her ears as she headed closer to him. She draped the headphones around her neck and only pulled them up when he fired.

“So, why haven’t you?” Emilia wondered. “I mean I know Sebastian said you don’t want this to be easy and you want to have some fun, but if you could just get rid of him so quickly, why bother with all this?”

“It’s not because it’s fun,” Jim sighed, pausing only momentarily to fire again. “I mean sure that does help,” he smirked as he reloaded. “But I know Sherlock Holmes just as he knows me. I know that if I were to kill him now, I’d be the bad guy and he’d be the saint.”

“But you are the bad guy,” Emilia snorted. 

“In a manner of speaking,” Jim nodded. “But this isn’t all as black and white as you may remember it from when you were younger,” he sighed. “I may be a consulting criminal, but that’s just a clever way of saying I know how to make money off of the blundering idiots that indulge in crime these days,” he hummed.

“With the occasional murder now and then,” Emilia chuckled. 

“I don’t even get my hands dirty anymore,” Jim scoffed. “Just starting out it was much harder to get people to trust me and do as I said. That’s when it was necessary to deal with the outliers whatever way I could and that meant getting my hands dirty.”

“But what?” Emilia frowned. “Now you ask Sebastian to do all your dirty work?” A hint of judgment in her tone when she spoke.

Jim noticed and glanced down at her with a curious frown. “Do you know what happens when you pluck a man from the battlefield and toss him into a dead ordinary life, Emilia?”

Emilia glanced down and thought on his words. In fact, she didn’t Her father had left the army and went straight to MI6 and she had known nobody else in the army besides Sebastian.

“No,” she shook her head.

“They miss it,” Jim hummed. “They miss the bloodshed, the chaos, and the unpredictability of war, and though some may never admit it, there are more than you think that miss being able to kill those who angered them. That’s why Sebastian is perfect here. He has the experience, the aptitude, and they drive to do it.”

“And what about you?” Emilia implored. “Why do you do all of this? Because it isn’t just money.”

Jim tossed a small smirk over his shoulder at the observation. “No, it’s the game,” he sighed and Emilia’s eyes grew wide.

“What?” She frowned.

“The game,” Jim repeated with an adamant nod. “This life is nothing more than a game, my dear, and if you don’t know how to play you are most certainly going to lose.”

“So, you’re a consulting criminal for the game?”

“No, I do this because how do you win a game?” Jim asked.

“You play the right moves at the right times, you expect what’s coming before it does, you know how to defeat your enemies,” Emilia listed.

“And you come out on top?” Jim presumed and Emilia nodded. “This is simply my way of coming out on top. This is my way of playing, keeping from being bored, and winning.”

“But what about everyone else?” Emilia wondered. “Because I know you said you don’t like ordinary people, but where do they fit into all of this?”

Jim took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes as he thought on a way to explain it best to her. 

“If you’re playing a game, can you ever expect to win if you don’t know that you’re playing?” Jim implored with a raised brow.

“Of course, not,” Emilia scoffed. 

“That’s the difference between us and them,” Jim smirked. “We know we’re playing while they’re mere fools wandering about aimlessly searching for what it’s all about,” he sighed.

“I’d like to argue but I see the world in the same light,” Emilia sighed as she sat back and watched him shoot the targets. “Everything and everyone is a game.”

Jim smirked back at her. “I knew there was a reason I was interested in you,” he hummed.

“I thought I served a purpose,” Emilia shrugged. “You can’t possibly be interested in me for more than that,” she scoffed, smiling softly at him.

“I can’t,” Jim agreed with a nod. “But I am.”

“What else could you want beyond killing Sherlock Holmes?” Emilia frowned. “I thought that was your chief goal in life or whatever.”

“‘Chief goal’?” Jim quoted with a frown and Emilia rolled her eyes. 

“Oh, shove off,” Emilia huffed. “You know what I mean,” she said and Jim chuckled.

“I’ll admit, that is something I’m looking forward to,” Jim confessed. “But there is so much more at stake than just the life of a lowly old consulting detective.”

“Blimey, you moved on fast,” Emilia remarked.

“Why shouldn’t I when three of the most brilliant minds are beneath this mansion and we can take so much more than the lives of the Holmes Brothers?” Jim said, turning and smirking at her. 

“What are you suggesting?” Emilia frowned. 

“I’m suggesting that between the three of us, I’m more than certain we can find a way to get the governments of the world eating out of the palms of our hands in no time,” Jim grinned deviously like an evil mastermind working on a new plan. 

“We’d have to find something that unites them all,” Emilia nodded. “Something that no government in the world could stand to lose.”

“I’ll do the research, but for now, we can’t lose focus on the Sherlock plan entirely,” Jim reminded her. “The moment we lose focus is the moment they get the upper hand.”

“And Sherlock defeats us,” Emilia nodded. “Right.”

“We can’t afford to lose this one,” Jim sighed. “But nevermind scheming for the moment,” he smirked. “Sebastian’s still meeting with the assassins?” He guessed and Emilia nodded. “Fantastic, in that case we have some time on our hands,” he hummed.

“To do what?” Emilia asked.

“It’s actually for you to show me what you’re capable of,” Jim instructed, placing his gun in her hands. “You showed me your hacking, now show me how good you are in a fight.”

Emilia glanced down at the gun in her hands and smirked at him. She pulled up her headphones and marched up to where he had once stood.

Without a moment of hesitation, she began firing off countless rounds hitting each target either on or near the big red dot. She hardly wavered and appeared to fall back into the comfort holding an old familiar pistol in her hands had presented all those years ago.

When she was done, she pulled off her headphones and grinned at her display. She had done just as good, if not better, than Moriarty. 

Jim walked up behind her and smirked as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “I think we might have made the best decision possible picking you up,” he hummed.

“Please,” Emilia scoffed. “You picked me out of all the other geniuses in England because they were all working for the government and I was the only one left available.”

“That may be true,” Jim nodded. “But I’m beginning to think that even if there had been someone else available it still would have been you.”

Emilia’s eyes widened and she glanced between the targets and Jim as she processed what he said. “Really?” She frowned and Jim nodded.

“You have proved you possess all the skills I assumed you to have and the potential for many more, showing intelligence far beyond what even Sebastian has shown,” Jim hummed and Emilia glanced up at him with furrowed brows.

“Are you saying that just so you can kill me whenever you need without arousing fear?” Emilia implored.

“Oh, my dear, I’m not going to kill you,” Jim chuckled. “As of now you’re invaluable to me, but this is a two way street,” he muttered, his tone dropping as his face fell and he glared at her. “I only need you just as much as you need me and believe me the more valuable you grow to me, the more I grow to you,” he warned.

“Was that a threat?” Emilia frowned.

“That was a precaution,” Jim corrected. “You don’t want to get on the bad side of a man who holds his fate in your hands.”

“If you hold my fate in your hands and this is a two way street, doesn’t that meant I hold your fate in mine as well?” Emilia prompted and Jim smirked.

“Yes,” Jim agreed. “Yes, it does, but so long as each of us follows the rules and plays the game just so,” he sighed. “I don’t why there should be any cause for concern, because we certainly cannot afford to lose this plan.”

“Of course not, but if this plan is going to work out, you’re going to need me,” Emilia reminded him. “And you’re going to need me right by your side so I need to know I can trust you.”

“And you didn’t uncover that with your little stunt hacking into my software?” Jim implored with a raised brow.

“I only found out who you were enough to be comfortable working with you,” Emilia shook her head. “No, I want to know that no matter what, I can trust you with the information about my past.”

“What could I possibly do?” Jim scoffed. “Tell the government? Spoiler, sweetheart, they already know.”

“I don’t want that information leaked to anyone,” Emilia huffed. “There is a reason I buried it so deep in the government records and you would do well not to share it.”

“Far be it from me to share other people’s personal business,” Jim shrugged, raising his hands in surrender.

“So, you won’t share it?” Emilia implored with a small frown.

“It’s not my job too,” Jim shook his head. “If you want to call it keeping your secrets then so be it. That’s what I’ll do,” he said.

Emilia released a breath of unnoticed anxiety and smiled softly. “For a consulting criminal, you do have your good points,” she remarked.

“I try not to make a habit of it,” Jim smirked and she laughed. “Now, let’s see you prove yourself in the math department,” he hummed, pulling the gun from her and leading her away from the shooting range. “You’ve proved you’re capable in most every area but I’m not counting on it until I see absolute proof of everything.”

“Fair enough,” Emilia nodded. “This, by far, is the easiest one for me. I learned the Trachtenberg Method when I was about six.”

“The Trachten-what?” Jim turned to her with a frown.

“I’ll show you,” Emilia nodded. “It makes math far easier once you know it and I’ve been doing it basically all my life.”

“Well then,” Jim sighed. “Let’s get started,” he smirked. 


End file.
